Debasement of silver Roman coins is a well-known phenomenon and understanding the quality of ancient silver coinages can provide an idea about the underlying fiscal condition of the issuing states. These coins are made from a silver-copper alloy, the surfaces of which were deliberately enhanced at the mints by a process of surface-enrichment to give them the appearance of being made of pure silver. Therefore, any surface analysis would provide a composition of the silver-copper alloy that would not be representative of the original alloy from which the coin blank was made; the result would be too high in silver. However, the bulk of the sample, the interior, should provide a composition that is true to the original alloy. Elemental analysis using negative muons has been used to provide a depth dependent compositional, completely non-destructive analysis of a silver-copper alloy denarius of the empress Julia Domna datable to 211–217 CE. The composition of the coin, beyond the surface enrichment layer, is 51 ± 1.8 % copper and 49 ± 1.9% silver, taken at a muon depth of 402 ± 61 µm. The surface enrichment layer is approximately 190 µm thick.
SummaryWe determined the map positions of seven SFR genes and compared them to the positions of 51 genes suspected of involvement in freezing tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana. The SFR genes were recognized by the freezing sensitivity of mutants; the others (including 14 whose map positions we have determined) were genes whose expression is induced by low temperature, genes involved in abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis and perception, and genes involved in tolerance of oxidative stress. The comparison of map positions indicated a limited set of potential identities, some of which were eliminated by further mapping or by an allelism test.
Summary. The results of the chemical analysis of 78 silver denarii issued by the Julio‐Claudian emperors are presented and interpreted against the available numismatic, archaeological and historical information. Earlier surface analyses are found to be incorrect, especially for the coinage of Nero, and the reasons for this are investigated. The new elemental data are augmented by a subset of coins being subjected to lead isotope analysis and the results of this are found to complement these data in unexpected ways.
During the first three centuries AD several eastern provinces of the Roman empire produced silver coinages of specijically local denominations and types. It has been claimed that at certain periods the mint of Rome was employed to strike some of these coinages, rather than the provincial mints to which the coins are traditionally attributed. This claim is based mainly on stylistic observations, but because style is regarded as subjective, some other form of evidence to support these observations is desirable. In this paper three types of coin are submitted to metallurgical analysis: silver denarii struck at Rome; Roman-style provincial silver coinage; and 'local' style provincial silver coinage. The aim is to discover whether the Rome-style and 'local' style coins have different trace element projiles, and whether these might indicate different ore sources or reJining techniques. The results are then compared with Roman denarii to see whether there are any similarities between the denarii and the Rome-style provincial silver coins.
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